The circuitry for driving the Fast q switch driver has been improved to produce high-voltage pulses. The pulses must increase quickly in order for the Q-switch to be fully open prior to each laser pulse in order to draw out the most energy from a laser cavity in the form of reliable laser pulses. The Q-switch drivers currently in use produce high-voltage pulses that rise quickly enough to account for the brief times required for the evolution of laser pulses, but many conventional Q-switch drivers also produce high-voltage pulses that are so brief that precise timing is required to ensure that the laser pulses occur while the Q-switches are fully open. The variability of the laser pulse evolution time with variations in the storage and loss of laser pumping energy exacerbates the timing issue and narrows the range of operable operating settings.Neither capacitor needs to be discharged in order to discharge the other into the transformer. Two rapid-rise, long-duration Q-switch pulses can be created by releasing them in quick succession.
With timing becoming much less crucial, improved Laser diode driver offer high-voltage pulses that rise quickly and are nearly square in shape. These pulses last long enough to accommodate a wider range of laser pulse evolution times, allowing lasers to operate more consistently and efficiently under a wider range of operating conditions. The enhanced circuits can also produce a number of quick succession high-voltage pulses.
By discharging a capacitor through a step-up autotransformer made precisely for the needed pulse operation, a driver circuit of this type produces a high-voltage pulse.
An enhanced Q-switch driver that can produce two pulses quickly after one another. The voltage on each of the capacitors C1 and C2 is clamped at a value less than that of the power source. The output pulses are made more nearly square by the clipping action of diodes, which also decreases ringing and prevents overshoot. Control logic circuitry allows for the selection of single- or dual-pulse operation. Each capacitor's discharge path runs through a field-effect transistor switch. By connecting the capacitor's positively charged terminal to the common power supply rail, the switch starts the discharge process.
